Six Woodlands Scouts attain Eagle rank in unison

Published 6:00 pm, Saturday, February 28, 2009

THE WOODLANDS — A Boy Scout troop celebrated an unusual but worthy event Saturday afternoon at the Woodlands Community Presbyterian Church.

Boy Scout Troop 1772’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor recognized all six of its members for earning Eagle Scout ranks.

Connor Brim, Ryan Dobbe, Ryan Eichelberger, Kevin Parsons, Joseph Perugini and Harley Poe, all of The Woodlands, shared their honor with approximately 100 attendees who participated in their journey and shared the accomplishment.

Randall Brim, Troop 1772 Eagle Scout leader, said the unity of the ceremony was appropriate for the high school seniors, given the tight-knit group.

“This is an accumulation of around seven years of effort, and a circumstance where all the guys were working together until their individual goals were completed,” he said. “It’s unusual to have six Scouts achieve Eagle in unison, but that’s how this patrol worked together.”

Brim said the Eagle Scout rank is the highest attainable in Scouting and is awarded after the completion of a minimum of 21 merit badges, as well as manning a major community service project, a feat only 2 percent of Scouts achieve.

The unity of the patrol was demonstrated as recently as Friday afternoon when Eichelberger, a senior basketball player at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory, informed the troop he would not be able to attend the service due to a conflict with a state playoff game. But other members of the troop decided to hold the ceremony early instead of without Eichelberger.

Eagle Projects for the Scouts ranged from a wildlife conservation project in Jones State Forest to support the red-cockaded woodpecker, the design and construction of bookcases for Austin Elementary and the Montgomery County Food Bank to the restoration of facilities at a Texas Forest Service camp.